Resisting Urges to Self-Injure
Open accessAbstract
The present study explored whether and how self-injurers attempt to resist urges to harm themselves. Participants were 39 young adults with a history of skin cutting and other non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors. A structured interview assessed the prevalence and perceived helpfulness of 48 methods for resisting self-injurious urges. Ninety percent of participants indicated that they had made efforts to resist urges to self-injure. These individuals had used an average of 16 different methods, and reported that they were successful in resisting the urges most of the time. “Keeping busy” and “Being around friends” were the most common methods used to resist self-injurious urges. However, “Doing sports or exercise” and “Removing the means/instruments typically used to self-harm from the home” were rated as being the most helpful for resisting self-injurious urges. Findings have implications for enhancing treatment and guiding future research.
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None of the participants reported recreational sport or exercise as a means of resisting urges to self-harm.
“Interestingly, none of the participants reported recreational sport or exercise as a means of resisting urges to self-harm, despite evidence suggesting this is a particularly helpful method (Klonsky & Glenn, 2008).”
From A multi‐method evaluation of a compassion‐focused cognitive behavioural psychotherapy group for people who self‐harm. (2022) · cites this paper as Klonsky & Glenn, 2008
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- Authors
- Klonsky, E. D., & Glenn, C. R.
- Affiliations
- Stony Brook University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Klonsky, E. David
- Venue
- Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2008-02-19
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 211-220
- ISSN
- 1352-4658 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-1833
- PMC
- PMC5841247
- OpenAlex
- W2151699631
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Stony Brook University
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health (F31MH067299)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- self-harm, non-suicidal self-injury, skin cutting, coping strategies, young adults, self-harm prevention, physical activity, social support
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